6. Lowering or Abseiling Off the End of the Rope

When belaying, the length of rope required for any given pitch isn’t always known. If we have a 60m rope and are on what turns out to be a 30+m climb, shortly before our partner reaches solid ground safely we are going to run out of rope, leaving him or her to fall if we don’t notice the error in time. To avoid this potentially deadly mistake, make sure to tie a knot in the end of the rope so as to prevent it slipping through the belay device when it runs out. Simple, but essential…

A similar mistake, which some may consider the sole preserve of contenders for the Darwin award but is oh-so-easily done, is abseiling off the end of the rope. Again, a good knot in the ‘dead’ end of our rope will preclude the risk of it slipping through when reaching our belay device.